Sometimes a company's to-do list grows faster than its tax and accounting team can handle in the short-term because of a new development, e.g., law change, examination initiation, restructuring, acquisition, or staff change. Wells Tax Consulting (WtC) stands ready to share the burden by providing talented tax professionals able to deliver high-level, immediate service. Each WtC professional has the necessary experience and knowledge to jumpstart a project. WtC professionals, like its founder, gained substantial experience and skills, not just by keeping abreast of tax law and rule changes, but by leading and performing the underlying work for numerous projects in a number of different settings. The following list includes areas in which WtC can provide significant value-added services to both large and small companies.
- Research & Experimentation (R&E) Income Tax Credit Study
The Internal Revenue Code Section 41 provides companies a tax benefit for engaging in certain types of development efforts, including software and product development. WtC can help a company design a plan to secure the benefit by meeting with the development team(s) to discuss the effort(s) and accumulate and prepare the substantiating documents to maximize the benefit received and help defend the tax credit against a future IRS audit. WtC can either assist or lead the effort, based on the needs of the company.
- Federal & State Income and Franchise Examinations
WtC personnel have deep experience working with and leading federal and state income and franchise tax audits, both in terms of negotiating the ground rules for the examinations and preparing the responses to the IRS' Information Document Requests (IDRs). A WtC professional performs an important business function, i.e., business adviser by sharing his/her perspective based on industry experience and offers a cost-benefit analysis for reviewed issues. WtC professionals provide a sound basis for the taxpayer's decision on how to proceed when the Service and the taxpayer do not agree. The client defines the role for the WtC professional who remains ready to help plan, advise, or lead, as needed.
- Tax Research and Planning (federal and state)
A WtC professional can substantiate a taxpayer's position by organizing documents and preparing a research memorandum to satisfy a financial statement auditor's request concerning a particular issue. A tax department leader needs to ensure that an item is treated correctly or any potential issue has been identified, quantified and resolved properly for both financial statement and tax compliance purposes. In fact, a company may be eligible to file an automatic method change (Form 3115) with the IRS that resolves the outstanding uncertainty and relieves the filer from the previous liability. WtC can help companies address such issues by researching the matter and determining whether an automatic method change will provide relief from the associated tax liability.
Whatever the issue WtC can provide the necessary clarity by gathering the salient facts and reviewing the tax law to reach a conclusion that includes a discussion of the issue for financial statement purposes (income tax provision impact) and the preparation of any new or updated tax work papers. WtC provides a thoughtful approach to all research issues, including tax due diligence (review of target company tax issues) as well as many others.
Additionally, many tax departments find that over a number of years a lingering tax issue may not have been adequately resolved or the substantiation may be lacking regarding a particular book-tax difference, e.g., the system of record changes, but the connection to the tax basis item no longer fully applies or the reasoning for the difference itself seems to have been lost due to personnel or IRS examination changes, etc. WtC will come in and help document the book-tax basis, including tax research and prepare a workplan that documents the steps and the rationale for the book-tax difference for use by company personnel going forward. This Process Documentation Process (PDP) identifies process efficiencies prospectively.
- Income Tax Provision (ASC 740)
WtC personnel stand ready to fill any income tax provision role in which a company requires an additional resource, including preparer, reviewer or manager to apply ASC 740 (formerly FAS 109). In addition, we have professionals ready to apply and help with FIN 48 (uncertain tax position) issues or projects. Also conduct internal control review of key income tax controls to satisfy Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) annual requirements.
- Information Reporting - Secure Penalty Abatement Relief ("B" Notices)
If you have any questions about any matter presented above or any other potential project, please contact Gary Wells at (703) 303-7898 to discuss how WtC can craft a solution that meets your company's needs.